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Old 01-20-2014, 08:37 PM
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hobbes1212 hobbes1212 is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 27
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Hello Everyone! My name is Michele and I am new to the forum, but have searched this site many times before both of my adr surgeries. This is a wonderful site and I've found lots of useful information here. A little background about me. I was rear-ended in 2008 which caused a disc protrusion at C5-6. I went through nearly 2 years of massage therapy, physical therapy and chiropractic before deciding to move forward with surgery. After doing hours of research I knew that I did not want to have a fusion, for a number of reasons.

I had my first disc replacement at the end of November 2010. I had the surgery at my neurosurgeon's surgical center and was able to go home the same day. At first I was a bit scared about not being in a hospital, but after I was very happy to be able to recover in my own bed. After surgery most of my pain was gone, I only had what felt like a lot of pressure behind my neck. My doc told me this was from "jacking up" my spine during surgery. I was prescribed pain killers, muscle relaxers and anti-inflamitories. I was not allowed to do anything for the first 3 weeks after surgery to include no household chores and no lifting.

I was pretty much out of it for the first week, but was up and around soon after. I was able to return to work at the beginning of January and felt great. After a few days though, I began to have the same symptoms I had prior to surgery. I was freaking out and very worried that my surgery had failed. I went in to see my doc and was told this was normal and that it would take some time for nerves to heal and for my muscles to calm down. For the next several months, I continued to use muscle relaxers as needed and went to massage therapy. Eventually, I no longer needed the muscle relaxers, continued going to massage (every 6-8 weeks) and was finally feeling almost normal until October 2012, when I was in another car accident.

One of my greatest fears after surgery was that I had no idea what would happen to my neck if I were to be in another accident. When I arrived at emergency, the doc ordered a CT scan of my neck. Luckily, the disc was still in place and there were no bone fractures. As before, my doc referred me for massage and physical therapy. Only this time, no chiropractic.

Again, after several months of conservative therapy, I was still having pain so my neurosurgeon ordered an MRI and x-ray of my cervical spine. Due to the disc at C5-6, it was difficult to see the adjacent levels, but it appeared that there was a problem with C6-7. My doc referred me for 2 ESI's. Neither gave me much relief.

The next step was to get an EMG & Myelogram with CT scan. The Myelogram revealed mild indentation at C4-5, C5-6 and C6-7. The CT showed a bulge at C6-7. I was then referred for a discogram and was less than thrilled to have to endure this awful test a second time. The discogram revealed no pain at C6-7, moderate to severe concordant pain at C4-5 with annular tearing and filling of the lateral recesses, and moderate concordant pain at C3-4 with annular tearing and filling of the lateral recess. I was pretty devastated by the results and knew I would have to go under the knife or live in constant pain.

As I suspected, my neurosurgeon recommended surgery. We discussed my options. I could either go with 2 more artificial discs, do a hybrid consisting of a fusion and 1 artificial disc or fuse both levels (which he did to recommend). We decided on 2 more Prodiscs. This surgery, along with the first were not covered by my health insurance (that's a whole other story).

So, on November 27, 2013, I became the owner of 2 more Prodiscs. I again had this surgery at my neuro's surgery center. For the most part, my recovery has been much like that of my first surgery. I'm coming up on eight weeks and feeling pretty darn good. I am still taking monic daily and only taking muscle relaxers as needed. I started massage last week and will be going once a week.

So, that's my abreviated story in a nutshell. I've left out quite a bit so if anyone has any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
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Sept. 2008 Car accident (rear ended)
Nov. 2010 Prodisc at C5-6
Oct. 2012 Car accident (t-boned on driver's side)
Nov. 2013 2 more Prodiscs at C3-4 & C4-5
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